Joseph wilkins



J. WILKINS; Apparatus for Saving Float Gold.

No. 224,368. Patented Feb. 10, 1sso UNITED STATES PATENT O FICE.

JOSEPH 'WILKINS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

'APPA RATUS: VFO'RK'SAVYI NG FLOAT-GOLD.

sPEcIrIcA'noN forming part bf Letters Patent No. 224,368, dated February10, 1880.

Application filed November 24, 1879.

to the accompanying drawing, in which is illustrated, in perspective,the device employed by me and constituting my invention.

It is well known that the actual product of metal in metallurgicaloperations on a commercial scale falls far short of the theoreticalreturn, as shown by analysis or assay, and

the disk B.

this loss in the case of, gold-mining is probably heavier than in thetreatment of any other metal.

The sediment which falls from the water flowing from the stamps and fromthe wastewater in hydraulic mining is rich in gold; but all attempts toreclaim and recover this socalled float-gold have heretofore failed ofbeing practically remunerative. Inasmuch as the amount of gold suspendedin the water bears such a small proportion to the total amount ofsuspended matter, it would not pay to treat the latter by amalgamation,even were a system of filtration or other separation of the suspendedmatter from the water feasible.

The separation of the gold by amalgamation while suspended in the waterhas not heretofore been practicable by reason of the obstacles in theway of bringing the water into intimate mixture or contact-with mercury.These obstacles I have overcome by means of the simple apparatusillustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which A is a pan,constructed of any suitable material, from the bottom of which leadpipes at a a a, the lower ends of which are secured to a disk, B, havingperforations oppositethe ends of-the pipes. O is a second pan beneath Inoperation, the water to be treated is led into a tank, wherein the sandand heavier particles of dirt and impurities are allowed tosubside. Thefloat-gold, whichis all that its name implies, as it remains suspendedfor an almost indefinite period, remainsiin the water, which, whenreasonably free from impurities, is led into the pan A. Previous to thisthe-pan G has been nearly filled with mercury, the disk B, which ismaintained truly horizontal, as shown, by a pair of levels, I) I), beingimmersed to the depth of, say, three or four inches, whereby an upwardpressure of about two pounds to the inch is secured on its.

lower face. r

The pipes a are made of a length to admit of the downward flow of thewater-say from eighteen to twenty times the mercuric headthe specificgravities of water and mercury being to each other respectively about as1 to 14.

The water from the pan A flows downward through the pipes c and outunder the disk B.-

Instead of assuming the form of spherical masses and bubbling swiftly tothe surface, as it would do were the. pipes simply immersed in themercury without the disk, the water spreads itself into athin sheetunder the disk, whereby every part of it is brought into contact withmercury and any suspended gold is amalgamated and retained.

The water flowing from the pan 0 may be led into the upper pan, A, of asecond amalgamator, and thence to a third.

The gold is reclaimed from the mercury by the usual methods of squeezingthe mass of mercury through fine cloth and distilling the residualmercury from thepasty mass. With careful management there is little orno waste of mercury.

The device is simple and inexpensive, being conveniently formed byscrewing one end of a piece of gas-pipe into the bottom of a tub and theother into a disk, and immersing the latter in a body of mercurycontained in a second tub.

. The device requires no care or attention except to remove thesaturated mercury and supply fresh, and its use results in a nearlycomplete recovery of gold, which has by the processes in use heretoforebeen wholly lost.

I am aware that it is old to force auriferous material through mercury,a screw-conveyer or equivalent mechanism being used to drive thematerial through a pipe whose lower end is immersed in a mass ofmercury, and to such impcrforate stationary horizontal disk, as setforth.

2. In combination with the pipes a and flangeless imperforate stationarydisk B, the 15 tanks A and G, as'and for the purpose described.

J OS. WILKINS.

Witnesses R. D. WILLIAMs, J OHN G. GITTINGER.

